Soto Returns
by ScorpioGirl1987
Summary: Set a few years after Collision Course. Diego and Shira finally have cubs. But someone from Diego's past is out for revenge and kidnaps his cubs. Will our sub-zero heroes find the missing cubs before Diego is forced to do something he'll regret? Read to find out! Rated for violence and some swearing.
1. A New Dawn

**This fanfic has been on my mind for about a year. I realize some people don't want a 6th Ice Age, but I can't help myself!**

 **Okay, so, realistically, all of the animals except Manny and his family should be dead, since mammoths lived almost as long as humans do now (tigers only live for 18 years and sloths live for about 30, and Sid had already reached maturity by the first Ice Age movie); and this story takes place 25 years after the first film (Ice Age takes place in winter, Ice Age 2 is the following summer, mammoth gestation period is two years, and Peaches is around 18 in the 5th movie).**

 **I do not own Ice Age (or any of the movies/books/TV shows that will be referenced in this story).**

After Peaches and Julian were married, Shira discovered she was pregnant. Everyone was ecstatic, because they knew how much she and Diego wanted cubs. Three months later, Diego paced back and forth in front of a makeshift den made by him, Sid, and Manny, where Shira delivered her cubs with help from Brooke and Ellie.

"Relax, buddy. They'll be here before you know it." Manny said, trying to calm his friend.

"Yeah, but what if something goes wrong or something happens?" Diego asked, a little panicked. "What is taking so long? And why isn't she screaming? I mean, it's gotta be painful-"

"Mm, maybe she doesn't want to attract predators." Sid suggested.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Diego replied. He stopped pacing when he realized what he just said. "Wait, what?!"

"Hmm. I must be getting wise in my old age." Sid replied, playing with a leaf.

"Then you know that's poison oak, right?" Manny asked, pointing to the leaf with his trunk.

Sid looked at the leaf, yelped, dropped it, and leaned against a tree, sighing. "I miss when everything was covered in ice and snow."

"Really? I seem to recall you being sick of all that ice and snow." Diego said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking." Sid replied.

Just then, Brooke walked out of the den. Diego nearly pounced on her. "Is she okay? Are they okay? How many do we have?"

"Calm down, Diego." Brooke held up her paws. "Shira and your cubs are all right. You have been blessed with a litter of four healthy cubs."

Sid gasped and pumped his fist. "Four for you, Diego. You go, Diego!"

Diego laughed softly and smiled. Ellie walked out of the den. "Diego, are you ready to meet your cubs?"

"Yeah." Diego padded towards the den. "Thank you both for everything."

"Hey, after you helped me deliver Peaches, helping you is the least I could do." Ellie replied, smiling.

Diego nodded and padded into the den. Shira finished cleaning off their cubs. "Hi."

"Hey." Shira greeted, a little tired from giving birth. They rubbed heads.

Diego lay down next to Shira and gazed at their cubs. One of them looked exactly like Shira, another looked exactly like Diego. Another had a plain grey pelt, and the fourth one had a burnt orange pelt with grey stripes. "Two boys, and two girls. How did we get so lucky?" Diego bent down and started nuzzling the cubs. "Hi, babies. Hi. I'm your daddy."

XX

The cubs and Shira hid out in the den for two months as Shira prepared her children for, well, life. The entire village gathered around the den to meet the cubs for the first time. Diego and Shira came out of the den carrying their daughters, and Sid and Brooke carried Diego and Shira's sons. Diego set his daughter down and addressed the village.

"Everyone, my mate and I are proud to introduce you to our children," Diego said. "Diego Jr.- or DJ for short, Arianna, Lena, and Jack."

Everyone cheered as Sid, Diego, Shira, and Brooke held the cubs up. DJ farted in Sid's face. The sloth turned his head and coughed and gagged quietly.

A molehog turned to his mate with an annoyed expression on his face. "Oh, great- four more predators. As if two weren't enough."

"Diego and Shira are harmless, and their children will be too." His mate assured him. "It won't be like with Sid and his dino babies."

"Well, I hope not, or we're moving."

XXX

Over the next few years, the cubs grew and would often hunt with their mother. Diego took that time to relax and catch up with his friends.

Manny, Sid, and Diego sat around a fallen tree log. Sid was once again asking to babysit the cubs.

"Sid, I love you like a brother, but I do not trust you with my babies." Diego said.

"Oh come on! I did all right with my dinosaur kids." Sid insisted.

"Yeah, after you were under the delusional impression that they were abandoned as eggs." Manny quipped.

"Ok, fine. How about Peaches?" Sid asked.

"You lead her to the North Pole where she could have died and/or gotten lost." Manny reminded him.

"Those eggs that I watched that one Easter?" Sid reminded him.

"Yes, then Squint kidnapped them, and they almost died before they were even born." Diego commented.

Sid scoffed. "Those were flukes. I did just fine with Pinky."

Manny and Diego grew quiet. Manny sighed. "How long has it been since we took Pinky to Glacier Pass?"

"Oh, gosh, that must have been two and a half decades ago." Sid replied. "I think about Pinky sometimes."

"Funny, I haven't thought of him in years." Diego said.

"How old would he be now? Mid-twenties?" Sid asked.

"If he's even still alive." Manny shrugged. "We haven't seen any more humans since Glacier Pass. I'm starting to think they've gone extinct."

"Well, with the flood, the continental drift, and the asteroid; I wouldn't be surprised if they have gone extinct." Diego replied.

"True." Manny nodded.

XXX

"...So then, I was caught between the two rhinos, who were charging towards me." Diego was sitting in front of his children telling an exaggerated tale of his adventures. "I had no other way of escaping, so what do I do? I jump high so the rhinos would crash into each other! I landed on one of the rhinos' back, and leapt to safety. But just when I thought I was safe, a deranged cholly with a hernia started attacking me!" The kids gasped and Diego continued. "I quickly scaled up a cliff to escape it and dropped a boulder on him!"

"Wow!" The kids exclaimed and started cheering.

Shira padded up to them, smiling. "So, what story are we telling right now? The one about the zombies and the dino birds or the rhinos and the cholly?"

"The rhinos and the cholly." Diego replied.

Shira chuckled. "You know, I think that was one of my favorite stories.

"I can tell it to you, Mommy." DJ spoke up.

XX

Unbeknownst to the tigers, an older saber toothed tiger sat hidden in a bush, glaring at Diego. _'Enjoy it while it lasts, Diego.'_ the tiger thought. _'You will pay for what you did to me.'_ He smirked as the wind blew through his fur in Diego's direction.

XX

"Is it true that Daddy saved you from pirates, Mommy?" Lena asked.

"He did." Shira smiled down at her daughter, then looked at Diego. "He truly did."

"Awww." The girls cooed.

"Oh, yuck." The boys groaned in disgust.

Shira laughed softly. "Okay, kids, time for bed."

"Awww, do we have to?" The boys whined.

"Yes, even wild beasts need their sleep." Diego replied. "Come on. Let's go."

The kids groaned and reluctantly let their parents lead them back to their den. A gentle breeze blew past them and Diego stopped short when he caught a familiar scent. A scent he never thought he'd smell again. Diego turned in the direction of the scent, but there was no one and nothing there.

"Diego?" Shira called back.

Diego snapped from his thoughts and turned back to his family. "Coming."

Diego couldn't take his mind off that scent. It smelled really familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. He planned on investigating it the next morning. But who could it be?


	2. Stories

Manny stretched and walked out of his cave. The sun was starting to peak over the mountains shining on the fresh snow that had fallen overnight. Manny saw Ellie's footprints headed towards the little animal cemetery, which was totally empty, since Diego and his family dug up the dead bodies to feed themselves. Manny and Ellie were the only ones who knew about that, and they understood. Ellie stood at two small gravestones with pictures of Crash and Eddie drawn on them by Sid. Ellie set a few flowers at their graves and stroked the gravestones gently, crying softly. She heard Manny walk up to her.

"Hey. I thought I might find you here." Manny said gently.

Ellie wiped her eyes with her trunk. "I...I know possums don't live for very long, but...we grew up together, they saw me get married, have a baby...they saw their niece get married. I thought we'd grow old together."

Manny cradled her face in his trunk. "I know. They'll always be with you in your heart and in your mind. I'm sure they're in a better place watching over you and Peaches and Julian."

Ellie hugged him back. "Thanks. You're the best. But, I'd like to be alone right now."

"Okay. I understand." Manny replied. They locked trunks slightly, and Manny walked off.

XX

Diego crept out of his den while his family was still sleeping. He padded to the bushes where that familiar scent was. That scent was still there. It smelled like another saber tooth tiger, but who? Snow had fallen and covered the tiger's tracks. He looked around more and spotted a tuft of burnt orange fur stuck to a sharp low branch. He walked over to it, smelled it, and closed his eyes, trying to remember. His eyes snapped open in horror and his jaw dropped as he remembered who it was.

" _No..._ " He whispered. It can't be. He's dead! How was this possible? He felt someone tap him on the shoulder, jumped, growled, and took a defensive stance.

"Whoa!" Manny exclaimed as Sid yelped. "Easy, Tiger, it's just us."

Diego exhaled sharply in relief. "Don't ever do that again!"

"What's got your tail in a knot?" Sid asked, putting his paws on his hips and raising an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry. I just picked up a familiar scent last night." Diego explained. "I came to investigate, and..." He sighed as he glanced at the tuft of fur.

Sid walked over to it and studied it. "Hmm. Looks like tiger's fur."

"It is. You guys are not gonna like it, but...it's Soto's." Diego announced.

Manny and Sid stared at Diego in shock. "That's not possible. I threw him against the wall pretty hard, and I saw those icicles pierce him."

"Clearly you didn't throw him hard enough." Diego growled. "If he's alive, he is going to come after us. After all of us."

Sid gasped in horror. Manny sighed. "I'm just wondering why now? After all this time?"

"I don't know. Maybe it took him years to recover and regain his full strength and more years to track us down." Diego replied. He started pacing.

Manny looked around as if looking for Soto. "Okay, here's what we need to do: we need to appoint sentries around the village just in case."

"Good idea." Diego replied, relaxing a little.

"We also need to tell our mates what's going on." Manny replied.

"I don't want to worry Shira." Diego shook his head.

"But shouldn't you tell her so she's prepared?" Manny asked.

Diego sighed. "Okay, good point. All right, let's appoint sentries and keep our eyes open."

"Uh, so are we actually going to tell them why we need sentries?" Sid asked.

"We'll just tell them there's a huge threat coming, and we need lookouts." Diego replied. "Problem solved."

"Okay, there's a few flaws in that plan, but it works." Manny nodded. "Let's go."

XXX

Meanwhile, the saber tooth tiger cubs bounded to the outskirts of the village.

"Wow, look at all that snow!" Arianna, or Ari for short exclaimed.

"Come on guys, let's go!" DJ said. The quadruplets bounded out into the forest. They stopped when they saw a giant, menacing looking bird scavenging for food. "Whoa. Check that out."

"That bird looks kind of scary." Ari said, inching back. "We should go back."

"We will, as soon as I get a closer look." DJ replied, walking towards it.

"DJ, what are you doing?" Jack asked, warily.

"I just want to get a closer look. Maybe chase it like Dad chased after things in his stories." DJ replied.

"Dad's a grownup. We're just kids!" Ari reasoned. DJ ignored Ari and continued walking towards it.

"Aaand, he's not listening." Lena deadpanned.

DJ quietly approached the titanis bird. The titanis had burnt orange feathers and a cobalt blue head shaped like an eagle. It noticed DJ and let out a loud screech. It looked at DJ hungrily and licked its' beak. DJ gulped and backed away.

"Run, DJ." Ari said, nervous.

The Titanis noticed the other cubs and started towards them. The girls whimpered.

"Lena, Ari, go get Mom and Dad." Jack whispered. The girls hesitated. "Now!"

The girls nodded and ran off.

XXX

Diego caught up with Shira near their cave. "Hey, babe, where've you been?"

"Investigating something." Diego explained. "Where are the kids?"

"Out playing." Shira explained. "What were you investigating?"

Diego was about to respond, when their daughters came bounding towards them. "Mom! Dad!"

"Girls, what is it?" Shira asked, concerned.

Ari tried catching her breath. "DJ and Jack- they're being attacked by a giant, mean looking bird!"

"Where?" Diego asked.

"In the forest. It took us five minutes to run here." Ari explained.

Diego bounded off in the direction the girls came from. Shira looked around and spotted Ellie. "Ellie! Will you please watch the girls for a few minutes?"

"Sure." Ellie replied.

"Thanks." Shira turned to her daughters. "Stay with Aunt Ellie." She bounded off after her husband.

XX

The titanis had the boys trapped in a hollow tree. The boys tried clawing their way out the back, but the tree was too thick. The titanis tried squeezing through the hole and snipped at the boys, who scrambled to one side.

"Help! Somebody help!" Jack yelled.

The bird was about to bite him when they heard a loud roar. The bird screeched in pain as it was dragged out of the tree. Jack and DJ sighed in relief and walked out of the tree to see their father fighting the bird. They turned to see their mother running towards them.

"Boys! Oh, thank goodness." Shira caught her breath and nuzzled her sons. "Are you all right? Are you hurt?"

The boys shook their heads. "No."

They heard bones crunch and turned to see Diego panting for breath as the bird lay dead at his paws. He wiped the blood off his chin and turned back to his family.

"What happened?" Diego asked with controlled anger.

"I-I saw that bird and thought it might be fun to chase it." DJ admitted. "Just like you did in your stories."

"DJ, those stories are just that- stories. They're meant to entertain you!" Diego snapped.

DJ was confused. "You mean that stuff never happened?"

"That is not the point! The point is that you shouldn't put yourself and your brother and sisters in danger just because you heard some stories!" Diego snapped, angrily. "You were incredibly reckless today and-"

"Diego, take it down a notch." Shira admonished.

Diego exhaled sharply. "You are grounded for a week, young man. You hear me?"

DJ nodded. "I'm sorry, Dad."

"Let's go home." Diego just turned around and started back to the village. Shira and the boys followed.

Shira waited until the boys were in the den before confronting her mate. "Okay...I agree that DJ was reckless, but you were a bit over the top."

Diego sighed and sat down. "I know."

"There's something more to it, wasn't there?" Shira asked, sitting in front of him. "What's going on?"

Diego peeked into the den to make sure the kids weren't listening. "Do you remember me telling you about my old pack and Soto?"

"Yes." Shira replied. "You said Manny killed him in self-defense."

"We thought he was dead, but...I caught his scent last night." Diego explained. "I wasn't sure who it was at first, so I went to investigate this morning."

"And did you find anything?"

"Yeah. A tuft of Soto's fur." Diego replied.

Shira was getting nervous, though she didn't show it. From what Diego was saying, it didn't sound good. "Diego, are we in danger?"

"No. And we won't be." Diego assured her. He placed a paw over hers. "I promise I won't let anything happen to you or our cubs."

"I think you mean 'we' won't let anything happen to us or our cubs." Shira smiled slightly.

Diego chuckled softly. "We won't, then."

XXX

DJ padded to his sleeping area, lay down, and sighed. His siblings padded up to him.

"DJ, are you okay?" Ari asked.

"I'm starting to think Dad just made all his adventures up." DJ admitted. "I told him I wanted to chase things like in his stories and he basically told me he made those up."

"Are you sure he wasn't just mad that you got all of us in trouble?" Jack asked.

"I don't think so." DJ replied, sullenly. "It just makes me wonder...how many more lies has he told us?"

XXX

By the time Diego and Shira returned to the cave, their kids were already fast asleep for the night. They gently nuzzled the quadruplets and went to sleep themselves.

The next morning, the cubs woke up before their parents. DJ slowly and quietly walked out of the cave and his siblings followed.

"Where you going?" Asked Jack.

"Just needed some air." DJ replied. They walked for a bit, then almost ran into another adult saber. DJ gasped slightly, then calmed down. "Oh. Hello."

"Hello, little cub. What's your name?" The tiger asked.

"Um...DJ. It stands for Diego Junior." DJ replied.

"Diego? Well, what a coincidence! We were just looking for him." The tiger replied. "We're old friends of your father's."

Three more tigers padded out from behind him. Ari gasped uneasily. DJ swallowed nervously. "Oh. Well, he and our mom should be up in about an hour, so you're welcome to hang out until they do."

"Hmm...that is generous of you, but...we can't wait that long." The tiger replied. The four sabers scooped each of the cubs in their jaws. The cubs screamed and yelled for help.


End file.
